Today started early again, with our usual sandwich and coffee at the chain cafe across the street from our hostel. As we had been late to get tickets for the Kremlin yesterday, we set off early. After sitting eating though, somehow we ended up getting there around the same time. Only this time, the queue was bigger! Nightmare! So we stood there for an hour and in the end everything was fine, but the system to buy tickets was quite strange.
Anyway we made it in and started our tour of the Kremlin. In the main square stood the impressive Zsar Cannon.
Impressive, until we learned that it was never actually fired, as it was just to big! In our opinion though, it was just fine to keep it that way.
Around the corner stood the larger and equally impressive bell, made for the Ivan the great's bell tower.
This, funnily enough, had also never been used because it was to big! We guessed back in those days, not much thought went into the finished product apart from the size!!
We made our way to the armoury, which we had heard was amazing....it was. The exhibition showcased all the gold and silverware given to the Zsar of the time by European and Middle Eastern countries. Clearly someone was popular because the amount of rare jewels used was unbelievable. Naturally the place was covered in cctv and no pictures were allowed. As the exhibition continued though, it got a little easier to sneak a few photos in.
This was armour and weapons made within the Kremlin and was very intricate.
Lots of robes and crowns were on display, most had been made in Russia but using material from Scandinavia.
These are some of the thrones used by the Tsars. The latter throne is that of Ivan The Terrible.
The last exhibition we managed to photograph were of some of the horse drawn carriages.
These were also very impressive, the smaller ones were used for children.
While we were taking the last picture of the carriage, we were eyeballed by the security lady. This was enough for us as we knew we had pushed our luck as it was!
We left the armoury, looked at a few more buildings within the walls and decided to get something to eat. It started to rain slightly, so we made a b-line for the nearest place. The food was cheap (considering we were in the middle of the tourist area), good quality and abundant. So naturally, we filled our boots!
The people working there were unbelievably nice, even reserving a seat for us. Maybe because we bought so much.
After rolling out of the door, we watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
We left to go to the gulag museum which we were interested to see. It was really good to see a display of the unfortunate dark side of Russian history. No holds were barred though and it was a frank and honest representation of this tragic history.
Cell doors for the labour camps.
Propaganda posters.
After that, we felt like a drink. Maybe unsurprisingly we needed to lift our spirits.
3 glasses of craft beer in an old chocolate factory and we were back!! Then almost instantly ready for bed! 😩
Well that's it for today guys, thanks for taking the time to read. If you get this far that is.
A little bonus for the ones who do. Some more metro stations!
